Conflicts In Ceremony, By Leslie Marmon Silko

Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko is a novel that follows the recovery process of a Native American soldier, Tayo. The novel takes place after World War II and Tayo has just returned from the war. Tayo seems to be experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder due to the horrifying scenes he witnessed while overseas. Silko incorporates flashbacks from Tayo’s war experience to show the readers what it is that he is going through. Not only is he on a journey to find healing, he is also trying to discover who he is. As a Native American of mixed blood, Tayo experiences tension between the two cultures. Raised as a Native American, Tayo attends a white school that causes conflicts due to differences in beliefs. Not only does Tayo have both cultures

Betonie tells Tayo that the Native Americans created white people and that the evil that resides in them, is a product of their own witchery. As part of a contest, the witches of the Native American culture sit around and use their magic to create the scariest event. Of all the witches participating, the winner of the contest is the witch who does not use their magic but rather their imagination and predicts or creates a race and culture that will completely destroy the earth. This creation is the scariest to these witches because the Native Americans believe in being one with the earth rather than conquering it. The story told by Betonie about the creation of white people captures western culture as it depicts them as a destructive

This statement is also true. The creation of the gun made it easier for mankind to kill the things they fear. The Native Americans were comfortable with close quarter combat and were not prepared for the weapons that the white people brought along with them. The guns were foreign objects that caused death all around. White people don’t seem to understand nature as well as the Native Americans do and if it appears to be a threat to them, they will destroy it. The “objects which can shoot death” make it easier for humans to feel as though they are in control of the world, despite the dangers that may be present (125). The witch also says that the white skinned people “will fear the people,” referring to the Native Americans which can be true when looking at the events that transpired between the Natives and the colonists. The white colonists saw Native Americans as lawless, savage creatures and this could have proved to be a threat to the colonists which could explain why the colonists mistreated and killed the Native Americans. As the witch predicts, “they will slaughter entire tribes” due to their fear (126). Because they do not understand the world and the nature that surrounds them, the white people are not a part of nature and fear what they do not understand, causing them to destroy it in order to feel